Honest Thief, directed by Mark Williams, written by Steve Allrich, Mark Williams. Starring Liam Neeson. The US, 98 minutes, IIA. Opens Oct 8. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Over the course of the last 20 years, Irish actor Liam Neeson has turned in some truly indelible performances — in Steve McQueen’s feminist heist thriller Widows and Martin Scorsese’s meditation on faith, Silence, for example. He’s done some genuine comedy in Lord & Miller’s The Lego Movie, dabbled in blockbusters (Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, Batman Begins), and of course really burst on the scene in Schindler’s List. But ask most movie-goers what they think of when his name is spoken and the likely answer is Taken’s Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative with a very special set of skills. 

Pierre Morel’s Taken was a lark; a diverting, pulpy thriller made on a thin US$25 million budget. On the strength of the (then) 56-year-old Neeson’s innate gravitas and the irony of seeing him elevate a B-movie above its humble station, the movie raked in a whopping US$230 million worldwide. Little did anyone realize then that it would also launch Neeson’s own personal sub-genre: let’s call it geri-action. 

Plenty of think pieces have interrogated why audiences are so enamored by Neeson’s peculiar brand of tough guy action. The closest equivalents, Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis, have evolved into cranky, bored old men, in a series of roles totally devoid of the charms that made them stars. But Neeson has transformed into our collective, favorite bruising grandpa who could be counted on to kick ass when needed: as a plane crash survivor battling wolves in The Grey; a former cop avenging a murdered DEA agent in the moody A Walk Among the Tombstones; and a snow plow driver avenging the murder of his son in Cold Pursuit.

(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The framework varies only slightly. Neeson plans an angry dad/lawman/average Joe in the wrong place at the wrong time required to prove his own innocence in whatever crime he appears to be entangled in. He’s surrounded by a starry supporting cast. The posters are as interchangeable as the plots. Still, US$1.6 billion in global box office on a total of US$400 million in budgets doesn’t lie. He currently has three more films like this in various stages of production.

Director Mark Williams’ Honest Thief features Neeson as bank robber Tom Carter, who wants to atone for his crimes, return the stolen loot, and live happily ever after with his new girlfriend Annie Sumpter (Kate Walsh). He tries to turn himself into the FBI, but crooked agents John Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Ramon Hall (Anthony Ramos) decide to take the money and claim Carter was just another kook falsely confessing to the notorious robberies. Of course, he wins an ally in honorable agent Tom Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan), but must avenge the attack on his integrity. This time, “I’m coming for you,” is the phrase of the day.

There are no surprises in Honest Thief, which slots nicely within Neeson’s late-career profile as a badass, but co-writer-sophomore director Williams (The Family Man) manages to squeeze in some genuine character moments and pulls a delightful performance from Donovan as the dogged agent trying to do right. Neeson’s acting his age — 68 now — and outrunning Donovan, a fit 52, is preposterous, but even with bum knees he’s proving there’s glee in the old boy yet.